The Forbidden Connection – Part 1

These posts are under the category – The Forbidden Connection, which are part of the Free Reading Library. On these posts I include the story bits (character notes, etc) at the bottom, as well as the date on top for when I start it. That is the information that I use when I write a story. It’s for me to keep track of the story and how I work. Feel free to ignore it. Your interest in these posts (or a particular story) will keep them going as much as my own interest. So if you like the tale, let me know in the comments.

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==== AUTHOR NOTE ====

This particular idea came to me in a dream based from The Planet of the Apes idea (may have seen the movie [Dawn of the Planet of the Apes] around the time of the dream, not sure). It has been in my head forever so writing it down will help to get it outta the noggin – I’m hoping. This one may make people uncomfortable. But for me it’s always been a source of interest. It can go back to the Neanderthal/Caveman age. Back when humans mixed with Neanderthals. Beauty and the Beast even. Where emotions blur the lines between appropriate and inappropriate.

With *The Planet of the Apes, the lines are blurred because they are as intelligent as humans. They can speak like us, feel similarly, and in some belief circles we come from them. So the lines get blurred. This story may press on that issue. Open discussion around it is welcome. Criticism is not.

The connection between my male and female lead is a deep bond of friendship. But it also plays on what happens if there is that while the two of them are living day in and day out with one another. If one has to protect and care for the other and vice versa. Just what happens if the roles are like any traditional man/woman or mate/mate? I believe that is the main point of this dream. Since I was inside the female’s perspective, I could feel her attraction toward him after years of living with one another.

= = = = = = = =

The Forbidden Bond Started: August 13, 2017

They’d been friends for a long time. Against the rule their friendship was. But it didn’t matter. Not to Karat, not to Laithe. Laithe was the leader of his kind. They followed him not because he was smart, not because he was good looking, but because he was dangerous. And he would kill any who opposed him. In their world, they didn’t choose a leader based on popularity. They chose based on strength. On the one they knew they could follow.

The ape they needed to lead. To protect them against all those who’d attempt them harm. In his world, Laithe was respected as the leader.

It wasn’t the same with Karat. In her world yes, they chose based on many of those qualities, but there was no one specific leader, unless you considered that once upon a time it was the President of the United States. Now however, it was different. The human race fought for control against their counterparts. The leaders were per group. Per area. They were chosen by their own group, but for many it was because they feared. It was fear that chose the leader of many of the human groups.

And it was fear which put Dargint in charge of his group. Oh, he was smart in some ways, brash in others. He was even strong. If one considered a weapon additional strength. In hand-to-hand combat he worked well, which was why Karat had been part of his group for so long. He was good at what he did. She wasn’t even sure where it all began to go wrong. Where her eyes opened to what a monster her own kind were, versus the apes that had been labeled the real monsters.

Somewhere. Somehow. As the years passed, things were let go. Forgotten. She wasn’t like the others. Her human counterparts were cruel. Dargint was cruel. He held no empathy toward others, let alone apes.

Which is how she ended up in a small home with two bedrooms, a bathroom with incredibly sketchy water flow that chose sometimes not to work—though she was one of the few lucky individuals with running water—and what one could sort of call a living space beyond that. If by living space it meant that the windows were gone, nature had grown within the room, and one was lucky to wake up and not encounter a snake or other random critter creeping through the outer half of the home.

A hallway connected her room to Laithe’s. Halfway down the hallway was a small closet to the left. And on the right was the door which led out to the front of the small ranch style home. Which Laithe and her had transformed into what constituted a front door. It was thicker, the lock reinforced, and they’d added extra plywood to the walls on the opposite side to act more as an exterior wall.

In her room she was fortunate to have the main bathroom since it was the master. Laithe showered in hers if he wanted one, but being an ape, he wasn’t usually around the home anyway and didn’t much care for the human way of living – she didn’t blame him. He preferred being outdoors for everything. She still hadn’t completely gone wild enough to abandon her “sort of” home so she spent more time there than he.

Yet he never left her alone for long. Never left her to fend for herself. Much of what he did was to help improve her living situation, the home since they shared it, or protected her from the rouge gang be it human or ape. Of course he also had his duties as leader of his kind. Which is why when she did chance a shower or bath when the water worked, she stuck to when he was nearby.

Laithe offered to help her redo most of the house but there was no point anymore. Either the humans came through hunting down any apes who remained in one place for long—including Dargint’s group who often came by to check on her. He still hoped. Hoped for what was gone, that was for sure. Hoped only to have what he couldn’t have. What she wouldn’t give him. Ever. One day she feared his “kind” act would drop and Laithe or one of the others who watched over her for him, were around by then. If not, she wasn’t sure what would happen.

If it wasn’t the humans hunting apes, then rogue apes came through when neither her or Laithe were near and ransacked homes hunting humans. It was better for the house to continue to look abandoned and like the rest of the homes: run over by nature than it was to fix it up. If they fixed it up, the home would become a beacon.

Most of the better apes in this area understood who lived here and remained back, or respectful toward Karat. The humans wouldn’t be if they knew who her roommate was. It was interesting to her as the years passed that the humans would want to kill all apes she came in contact with. They’d never accept that she felt no anger toward them, no hate. But the apes on the other hand? They were respectful toward her. Some . . . some even said, “hello,” to her or talked . . . somewhat.

Like the Gorilla not too far from her. He’d made a home out of the trees nearby that’d claimed the homes. She knew he’d been mistreated so his trust in humans was near nothing. But her kindness to him was working. He no longer threatened her when he saw her. No longer sneered and turned away in disgust when he caught her talking with Laithe those few times he saw them together on the street, which they rarely did. Eventually she’d get him to say hi. Maybe tell her his name.

It was why she stayed. Here she had friends.

Out there?

Out there where cities had fallen with the war between human and ape. Out there where governments no longer existed. Where power and water were scarce and everyone was lucky to find places that had it, or as she did, it’d never been shut down. Out there was dangerous.

Out there was just that.

Out there.

This was home.

This was familiar.

This was safety.

Though she knew: eventually she was going to have to choose.

Ape . . . or human.

She couldn’t have both. Not in this world. Not anymore.

The humans would never accept a human who befriended the apes. And the apes would never accept an ape who’d befriended a human.

So Laithe and Karat kept their deep bond a secret. A secret they both knew may get one or the other killed eventually. A secret she was always afraid of being found out. The stress with keeping that secret was huge. Outside of their home, they had to act far less friendly than inside. But inside the walls of their little half home, she was beginning to see a different side to that dangerous leader of the apes. A side which she found herself drawn to more and more.

Maybe . . . just maybe it was a side only she knew. Because she didn’t usually see him dropping his guard the way he’d been. Not with others. Only with her. It intrigued her. It attracted her.

And it was a dangerous attraction, especially when she had a man who’d kill Laithe the moment Laithe realized that Karat’s roommate was really the leader of the apes. Hell, that he was ape, period.

Dargint wouldn’t give her up. He’d made that clear. The clock was ticking on his patience.

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